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Monday, February 25, 2013

So I haven't been as busy in the kitchen with the Looney cookbook. I did make 14 recipes in the last three weeks but it doesn't compare to last months, 31.

I had yet to touch any of the fish recipes, aside from the "Eenie Meenie Fettucini" (which had tuna) which is in the pasta section. Since we're now into lent and eating meat on Fridays is a no-no, I finally have a real excuse to dive into the section labeled "A Fine Kettle of Fish".

Up first:
"Pimped Out Pumpkin Pie Pancakes"; Name says it all.

"It's All Greek to Me"; Greek Salad. A first for me that week, I bought Mint! Can you believe it, mint! But now I have a huge amount of mint leftover that I don't know what to do with.

"Peanut- BETTER Gingersnaps"; A thin and chewy cross between a peanut butter cookie and a gingersnap. These were addictive, completely amazing.

"Obi Wonton Kenobi"; Wonton Soup. I've always wanted to make my own. I used ground beef instead of the ground chicken asked for. Still delicious. A first for this week; I used sesame oil. Very flavourful.

"Mulligatawnski"; Southern Indian soup with curried chicken, apples and quinoa.
Very good, with a kick. A first, I used quinoa!

"The Nutcrocker"; Slow-cooked peanut-ginger chicken thighs in the crock pot. Three cheers for crock pots! Wonderful invention I tell ya.

"Hot Fudge Monday"; A fudgy cake smothered in hot chocolaty sauce. Now this was an odd one to bake. You had to add a cup of boiling water over the cake and bake it. I had my apprehensions but it was delicious and quick, since I had a craving that needed immediate taming.

"Where's Waldorf?"; Apples, celery and toasted walnuts tossed with rotini pasta in a light, creamy dressing.
To be honest I wasn't too thrilled with this one. The dressing was too zingy, if that makes sense.

"Lovin' My No-Oven Cheesecake"; No-bake pumpkin cheese cake. I think cheesecake should be baked but I wasn't in the mood to bake (so unlike me by the way). Not sure I'd make it again.

"Bisquito Bites"; Buttermilk and mashed potato biscuits. I'm just saying it now, I will NEVER buy buttermilk. Tramatic childhood experience which I do not want to get into right now (repressing memory... okay gone). Instead, I do the teaspoon of vinegar in a cup of milk trick. Works like a charm. Also this recipe is a great way to use up leftover smashed potatoes (as my 4 year old boy calls it).

"Goody Two-Chews"; Cranberry and peanut-butter granola clusters. I think I over-baked these since they were quite hard. Woopsie.
(I'm quite fond of the pyramid picture taking pose, as you can tell)

"Rotuni Casserole"; Creamy, cheesy rotini-noodle casserole with tuna and wild salmon. A first; I bought canned wild salmon. Living on the edge I am!

And lastly "Sweet Home Alabanana"; Banana bread with oat bran, pecans and chocolate chips. I did not take a picture. It was not picture worthy since when I took the loaves out of the pans the bottoms clung to the pans, desperately not wanting to be eaten along with the loaves. Well its effort was futile since the bottom bits were eaten first, muah ah ah!

Monday, February 11, 2013

So I bought a shoe rack at the thrift store but it just didn't work out for our shoes. I've been wanting to make a book sling for a while and just never got around to it.....until now.

From this:

To this:

To make it I used two different fabrics, some ribbon, and hook-and-loop tape.

Step 1: Measure the length, then measure the width like this:

Step 2: Cut your materials. With good sides facing each other, sew around the edge, leaving an opening big enough for you to turn it around. Snip the corners, before turning it around. Iron and top stitch.

Step 3: I wanted the flower material on the outside, so I place my hook-and-loop tape on that side. I left enough room in between to allow for the metal bar.

Step 4: Sew ribbon to the corners to tie to the shoe rack so that it won't slip around. You may need to singe the end of the ribbon so it doesn't unravel.

Step 5: Place on your shoe rack, add some books and ta dah! You've got a fancy book sling!

Welcome Back, 'Cotta: Lemon-ricotta pancakes with fresh blueberry sauce. Not your average pancake. By the way, with the leftover blueberry sauce I had, I added it to vanilla ice cream. It was very good. I think I'm going to make just the blueberry sauce next time just so I can add it to ice cream.